15 Most Important Bears of 2018: No. 15 - Taylor Gabriel

15 Most Important Bears of 2018: No. 15 - Taylor Gabriel

What a difference one offseason has had on the complexion of the Chicago Bears offense.

Last season, Mitch Trubisky and the Bears struggled to complete passes longer than 10 yards downfield. That’ll change this year, and a big reason why is free-agent addition, Taylor Gabriel.

Gabriel will play the zebra position in coach Matt Nagy’s offense, the same role that turned Tyreek Hill into a star with the Chiefs last year. Gabriel has many of the same traits as Hill with the most important being his blazing speed. But don’t expect "Turbo" to be a one-trick route-runner; he’ll be targeted downfield as often as he is on bubble screens and short routes that give him a chance to make plays after the catch.

Gabriel can be a dynamic weapon with the ball in his hands. He proved that in Atlanta with limited opportunities behind Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu. His best season came in 2016 when he averaged 16.5 yards per catch and scored six touchdowns. He was a threat to flip the field every time he touched the ball, and he’ll present the same challenge to opposing defenses this year with even more targets and a bigger role in Chicago.

Gabriel is a critically important piece to the Bears’ offensive puzzle in 2018. If he makes good on his projection and brings a presence to the passing game that defensive coordinators are forced to respect, he’ll make Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, Kevin White and Trey Burton that much better. In fact, his impact will go beyond his statistics. A few big plays early in the season will keep defenses honest all year, giving Trubisky the ability to thrive in the mid-level passing game.

Signed to a four-year, $26 million contract in free agency, Gabriel has one of the highest salary cap figures on the roster this season (second-highest receiver behind Robinson). He’s being paid to produce and the Bears will give him every chance to prove he’s worth his big contract.

Gabriel is a bit of a projection, however. He's never had more than 621 yards in a season (his rookie year) and it's yet to be seen how he'll respond to facing more attention from better cornerbacks as a full-time starter. Still, speed like Gabriel's is hard to find and if Nagy and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich can gameplan ways to put him in favorable situations, his impact should be significant and immediate.

Bears grades: A closer look at Mitch Trubisky's night against a good defense

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Bears grades: A closer look at Mitch Trubisky's night against a good defense

Matt Nagy and the Bears are already on to Thursday afternoon’s game against the Detroit Lions, meaning their work at Halas Hall on Monday did not involve watching the film of Sunday night’s 25-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

“The No. 1 thing is to make sure these guys are taken care of, see where they’re at physically and then mentally they’ll be good,” Nagy said. “But really just send home the message of ‘here we go.’ It’s right back at it. Enjoyed it last night. It was fun. It was a great win. Proud of the guys. Heck of a team we played against. Great coaches, great players. But just like that it’s on to the next one.”

So in that spirit, we’re going to do grades a little differently this week. This mostly will be a breakdown of Mitch Trubisky’s game, with more rapid-fire reactions to the rest of the team’s units:

QUARTERBACKS: C-

Mitch Trubisky’s final stat line does and doesn’t tell the story of his performance Sunday night. He completed 20 of 31 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and rushed 10 times for 43 yards.

We’ll start with the negatives: Perhaps the worst throw and decision Trubisky made didn’t result in one of his two interceptions. Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Bears up by eight and facing a third-and-three near midfield, Trubisky tried to float a pass toward Allen Robinson instead of trying to juke defensive tackle Tom Johnson (who was bearing down on him) and throw the ball away, or even just taking a sack.

The result was a throw that Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes should’ve intercepted. Had he not dropped it, it would’ve been a sure-fire pick six and given the Vikings a chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion.

“There was some man-zone concepts in there and both (Robinson) and Mitch were a little bit off base on what they thought the coverage was,” Nagy said.

Nagy, though, wasn’t frustrated by the two decisions and throws Trubisky did make that were intercepted by safety Anthony Harris.

The first one came when Trubisky took a shot downfield on a play the Bears had worked on in practice, and wound up throwing the ball into an area in which Taylor Gabriel was surrounded by three Vikings defenders. Tarik Cohen appeared to be open had Trubisky checked down, but Nagy wasn’t disappointed his quarterback didn’t make that shorter throw.

“He thought maybe he could squeeze it on in there,” Nagy said. “We’ve made that throw a few times in practice. (Harris) made a great play. When you look at it in the end, you see three guys corralling around the football, but again to the safety’s credit, he made a nice catch. And then the 20-20 hindsight is it looks wide open when you check it down, but I can’t fault him for that.”

Trubisky’s second interception was the result of Robinson not being able to fight his way open, leading to Trubisky throwing right into the hands of Harris. To Trubisky’s right on the play, though, was tight end Ben Braunecker with no one around him.

“You never want to force throws,” Nagy said. “I don’t think they were forced throws. I think they were a little more aggressive, and I’m OK with that. We just have to learn from it and respect the plays they made.”

Trubisky, though, did some good things — his running ability again shined with a slippery nine-yard run on third and seven on the Bears’ first possession, sparking a drive that ended in a field goal. He made some excellent throws to convert third downs, too, to Gabriel and Robinson — with that throw to Robinson becoming critical in sealing the five-point win. He converted both two-point attempts, too, with good throws to Josh Bellamy and Adam Shaheen.

Trubisky himself didn’t sound all too pleased with how he performed after the game Sunday, but it’s also worth putting his game into some context: This is a Vikings defense that held Drew Brees to 120 yards with one touchdown and one interception a few weeks ago, and tormented Jimmy Garoppolo (15/33, 261 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs) in Week 1. While Trubisky made some plays that allowed the Vikings to keep the game close, he also made some plays that helped the Bears finish off a five-point win over a good division opponent.

“He never got rattled,” Nagy said. “Not at all. He continued to stay very composed, next play mentality, nothing changed, never got too high, never got too low.”

On to the rest of the grades:

RUNNING BACKS: C+

Jordan Howard had his best half of the season in the first 30 minutes, rumbling with power and conviction for 46 yards on 10 carries. His second half was considerably quieter, with only 17 yards on eight carries, while Tarik Cohen lost a fumble that resulted in the Vikings getting a field goal. Cohen, though, did make a few nice plays — his 21-yard run on a second-and-21 was outstanding, and he managed to juke Harrison Smith out of blowing up a screen.

WIDE RECEIVERS: B+

This may not have been the most productive game for this unit, but each active member of the Bears’ wide receiver corps came up with at least one critical play. Six of Taylor Gabriel’s nine touches went for first downs, including three on third down. Anthony Miller scooped Trubisky’s under thrown pass off the end zone grass for an 18-yard touchdown. Allen Robinson hauled in a critical third-and-long conversion late in the fourth quarter. And Josh Bellamy caught the first of the Bears’ two successful two-point conversion attempts. It wasn’t all clean — Bellamy dropped a pass and Robinson got tied up on Trubisky’s second interception — but what this group lacked in big-time numbers it made up for in high-leverage plays.

TIGHT ENDS: C+

Shaheen’s return gave the Bears’ running game an early boost with some good blocking, and he bodied up Rhodes to haul in Trubisky’s two-point conversion toss. Otherwise, it wasn’t a productive game for this unit, with Trey Burton and Braunecker each catching only a single pass.

OFFENSIVE LINE: B

Charles Leno delivered two excellent blocks to help spring Cohen’s 21-yard run, and the Bears’ offensive line largely kept Trubisky upright against a defense that brought Matthew Stafford down 10 times the last time it played. The run blocking early was solid, too, even if it waned a bit in the second half.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A+

Akiem Hicks had five tackles for a loss and he, Eddie Goldman and Bilal Nichols were critical in holding Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray to a combined 17 yards on 13 carries. That turned the Vikings’ offense into a one-dimensional group, and Hicks was able to drop Kirk Cousins for a sack, too. For Hicks, it was the kind of game that should finally get him into the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS: A+

Khalil Mack thoroughly wrecked the first half, as his impact was felt even when he didn’t physically pressure or hit Cousins (the bizarre interception Cousins threw at the end of the first half seemed to be the result of his internal clock speeding up). Leonard Floyd had an impactful game, too, consistently delivering pressure and making plays against the run.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS: B-

Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith only combined for eight tackles, and Smith allowed 42 yards the six times he was targeted (with four catches, per Pro Football Focus). Smith missed a tackle on Stefon Diggs that allowed the Vikings receiver to gain about 25 more yards on a play, too. Trevathan, though, blew up a screen to Cook for a loss of five in the second quarter and delivered a hard hit on a Cousins scramble late in the fourth quarter.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: B+

Eddie Jackson’s pick-six was massive — without it, the Bears may not have won, or at least won fairly comfortably, on Sunday. Adrian Amos had another solid game, too, with his second interception of the year. Prince Amukamara, Kyle Fuller and Bryce Callahan, though, didn’t have their best games, combining to allow 20 receptions on 27 passes thrown their way, per Pro Football Focus — but perhaps that’s more a function of the Vikings’ offense being good at completing throws to Diggs and Adam Thielen.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-

Cody Parkey hit all three of his field goals, including a 48-yarder that effectively sealed the Bears’ win. He did have a kick go out of bounds, though, and the Bears only had 10 players on the field for a punt return midway through the third quarter.

COACHING: A

Nitpick some of Nagy’s play calls if you want, but the Bears finished a win over an NFC North contender with offense, defense and special teams all making critical plays in the fourth quarter. The Vikings, meanwhile, were taken out their comfort zone early by the Bears dictating what they wanted to do, not the other way around. That’s a massive win for a young head coach going against a veteran in Mike Zimmer.

Neat Tweets: Statement wins are the neatest type of win

Neat Tweets: Statement wins are the neatest type of win

The Bears wins just get more and more neat. It's hard not to be when you're thoroughly dominating your toughest divisional opponent, at home, in those neat orange jerseys, in front of a raucous crowd that's been drinking enjoying their tailgate all day.

Not only were the Tweets again neat, but they were all seen in primetime and everyone's engagement numbers were also probably very neat. Way to go, all. Here's what they were saying:

The Bald-Visor Combo is an Apex Predator move. Drawing attention to the hairless pate many consider to be at a weakness and just OWNING it. Never more than in 31 degree weather. Matt Nagy is a Badman pic.twitter.com/U9CNEfS046